Guan Eng: Order to hold fresh re-election affects DAP's preparation for GE14

GEORGE TOWN: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today claimed that the order for the party to hold a fresh re-election of its central executive committee (CEC) was deliberately issued by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) Department to trouble the party in its preparations for the upcoming 14th general election (GE14).
Lim, who is also Penang Chief Minister, said the order had definitely affected DAP's level of preparedness to face the GE14.
"The party is in the opinion that the order (to hold fresh re-election) was not issued by coincidence, but instead was deliberately done to trouble the party when we are in the midst of preparing for the GE14.
"However, in order to prove that we are unafraid to hold a fresh re-election...we will hold the re-election using the list of delegates of 2012 as agreed by the RoS," he told a press conference here today.
He said the decision to adhere to the order was to ensure that the party was not banned or deregistered so that it will still be able to contest the next general election.
"That is something that we want to avoid. I hope all delegates can attend so that we can get this done and over with based on the list of delegates of 2012. This is to ensure that DAP will stay active and can continue challenging the Barisan Nasional in the GE14," he said.
Yesterday, Lim told a special media conference in Kuala Lumpur that the fresh re-election for DAP's CEC would be held on Nov 12 at the Ideal Convention Centre, Shah Alam, as agreed to by the RoS.
He said the party would also adhere to the RoS' order to re-use the list of 2,576 delegates recorded in 2012 for the re-election.
On July 17, DAP received official notification from RoS regarding the department's order for the party to hold a fresh re-election of its CEC. The order was issued as RoS had neither accepted nor recognised the election held by DAP on Dec 15, 2012, and the re-election on Sept 29, 2013. — Bernama